Key Takeaways
- Tyler Perry offered to pay the nearly $18,000 mechanic’s lien on 81-year-old Brenda Daurham’s Illinois home and promised more help to make it livable again.
- Daurham spent more than six months displaced after a burst pipe flooded her longtime home and Allstate denied her claim, citing wear and tear, deterioration, and seepage.
- “Don’t worry Ms. Daurham help is on the way,” Perry wrote after FOX 32 Chicago’s report spotlighted her dispute with the insurer and restoration company.
Tyler Perry is stepping in after an 81-year-old Illinois homeowner spent more than six months displaced from the house she has lived in for decades—and wound up facing an $18,000 lien after her insurance claim was denied.
Perry offered to pay the nearly $18,000 mechanic’s lien against Brenda Daurham’s Markham, Illinois, home after seeing a FOX 32 Chicago report about her situation. He also indicated that paying off the lien would not be the end of his assistance as Daurham works to make the property livable again.
“Hey AllState!! Step to the front real quick,” Perry wrote on Instagram while sharing the news report. “This woman is 81 years old. You call this being in good hands?”
He followed that with a message directly to Daurham: “Don’t worry Ms. Daurham help is on the way.”
Daurham’s ordeal began on Valentine’s Day when a pipe burst beneath her kitchen sink and flooded the home where she had lived for more than 40 years. She said she had maintained homeowners’ insurance, but Allstate denied coverage for the damage, citing exclusions including “wear and tear,” “deterioration,” and “seepage.”
The restoration company that performed cleanup and repair work disputed that assessment, maintaining that the damage resulted from the burst pipe. When payment for the work remained unresolved, the company placed a mechanic’s lien of nearly $18,000 on Daurham’s property.
The dispute left Daurham caught between the insurer and the contractor, and she remained unable to return home.
Perry’s decision to intervene hit FOX 32 reporter Tia Ewing especially hard. Ewing became emotional while discussing the development on air after her original reporting brought Daurham’s situation wider attention.
“I’m thankful for God that Tyler Perry was able to see the story,” Ewing said. “All I did was tell her story.”
She added, “An 81-year-old shouldn’t have to live like that.”
Perry’s latest intervention follows a run of financial assistance that has extended well beyond entertainment. In August, he covered the remaining Harvard Graduate School of Education tuition balance for Tuskegee University graduate Janay Duberry.
“If you’ve never been poor then you may not fully understand the life-changing impact SNAP benefits mean to hard-working people,” Perry said at the time.
